VIERA, Fla. — Though minor-league spring training doesn't begin until mid-March, the Nationals invite a roster full of their top prospects to come to town early and participate in an "accelerated development camp."

These are mostly younger prospects, guys who aren't ready for big-league camp quite yet, plus a handful of veteran minor leaguers who could use some extra work. Some of these players will get a chance to be called up and participate in actual Grapefruit League games, as well.

Among the more notable players in this year's accelerated camp are 2010 draft picks Sammy Solis, A.J. Cole and Robbie Ray; reigning organizational player of the year Tyler Moore; and young outfield prospects Destin Hood and Eury Perez.

Yes no Alex Cintron….I was wrong about that and I was wrong about Flores too…..I could not be happier about that….Last Sept I declared him done……He had been so nice to me and my girls in Spring Training a few years back….He was doing some drills early in camp an as we stood behind the screen we had a nice conversation in his broken English and our poor Spanish. He had a great smile and happy outlook. This past few years must have been hell for him.

Along with the 61 other players, how do any of these players get in any productive time? I'm sure that it all fits together somehow.Or is it just an invitational formality? They will be dealing with their own minor league camps in 2 weeks.

Guys I'm especially interested in off that list.Pitchers:AJ Cole, Robbie Ray, Sammy Rolis (the recent projectable draft picks)Josh Smoker – Can he get back on the map as a reliever?Brad Meyers – Can he pitch well and stay healthy?Jack McGeary – What's his timetable coming back from Tommy John?Brad Peacock – Is he still viable as a starter or are they going to try flipping him to a reliever?—–Infielders – Rick Hague – How is his defense?Jeff Kobernus – Can he stay healthy? If so, is he a legit prospect or an early round bust?—–Outfielders -Randolph Oduber – Is he worth they hype and the bonus? Michael Taylor – Is he being converted to an outfielder (nationalsprospects.com has him listed as an infielder) and how does that affect his prospect status?—–There are certainly other guys on the list who may be more interesting to Nats fans, but I think the guys that I mentioned are guys who have stories that may be affected by their performance at camp. Eury Perez is a more recognizable name to most people who follow the Nats minors, but it's hard to conceive of any scenario where he's not at High A Potomac where you can see him with your own eyes. Ditto Ramirez and probably Hood. On the other hand, the guys coming back from injury or folks that I hope will be at least casually scouted by people who are down in Viera for extended spring or minors camp when they inevitably follow Harper across the fields.

Doc: It's a separate camp from the big-league version. Basically, it's an early minor-league camp before everyone else arrives in mid-March. A couple of the guys from accelerated camp do get called up to be available in Grapefruit League games, but for the most part they're participating in an entirely different thing than the main camp.

@souldrummer,I think one should probably mix in some of the Non-roster invitees and 40-man roster with the accelerated minors invitees.That said you need to be watching Peacock, Barthmaier, and Milone for potential major league promotions along with Carr and Kimball. All should be in Syracuse. Dark horse candidate would of course be Bradley Meyers. Last year's depth in Chico, JD Martin, Martis and Arneson as well. The position players must include Derrick Norris. He might just get into the majors depending on the sort of risk management might take with the current surplus at catcher. Corey Brown might just make the starting lineup from Syracuse. The rest are still works in progress to be followed. Tyler Moore must prove that his year in Potomac wasn't a fluke.

@Anonymous 6:49I was kind of focusing on guys who are in minor league camp with my list. It goes without saying that all of the 40-man guys are of interest. I mentioned Peacock in my original post. I also mentioned Meyers. Brad Meyers as always is a person of interest. So sad he basically had a lost 2010. To me Arneson is a swing guy/organization depth. If he was all of that, they wouldn't be flip-flopping him from spot starter to long man so much and would have him in a more defined role in the minors. I've gotten mixed signals on Barthmaier since it appears he's coming off injury. I am interested to see what he does, but I've got to feel that there are a lot of people ahead of him in the DC mix and he's getting up there in years. Chico, Martin, and Martis were all guys they DFAed so at this point, I think they are all a long shot to get back to relevance within the organization beyond AAA depth.